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This @latimes piece captures something pretty fundamental about Trump, Stephen Miller, and WH immigration policy. *Step 1*: The President understands his actions in the most basic sense ("I'm suspending immigration right now"). https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-04-22/trump-signs-order-further-restricting-immigrationand 1/
Miller has clearly goaded him on in the usual way: not by actually making an argument about immigration policy, but by appealing to Trump's sense of his own power. So you get Trump's tweet, "suspending immigration temporarily." 2/
*Step 2*: DHS scrambles to create a policy around the President's rough instinct. Something that looks & sounds tough, since the symbolism is as much the point as anything else. (After all, Miller's already succeeded in shutting down the border & slowing down visa processing.) 3/
*Step 3*: "The President is briefed," with a thousand scare quotes around the word "briefed." Seems from this solid LA Times report that he has no clue what's in the proclamation he's actually signing. When asked, he more or less just repeats his original tweet. 4/
And the kicker: when the reporters point out to Miller the obvious discrepancies in the proclamation btw what the Trump said on Twitter & what he's signing, Miller flips out. I'm not convinced he's truly *flipping out* so much as staging the hyperbole to cover his tracks. end/
